The invention relates to an electromotive furniture drive having a control device, a power supply apparatus, a handheld control, and having a terminal configuration having at least one electromotive consumer. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for controlling an electromotive furniture drive.
Such electromotive furniture drives are known in various embodiments. They are implemented as linear drives having a linearly adjustable output element or as rotation drives having a rotating output element and have proven themselves very well in practice. The linear drives have one or a number of electric motors, wherein each motor has, connected downstream, a speed reducing gear and a further gear connected downstream from the speed reducing gear, for example, in the form of a threaded spindle gear, which generates a linear movement of the output element from the rotational movement of the motor. The rotational drives have at least one speed reducing gear connected downstream from the respective electric motor, wherein the last gearing element forms the output element. The output element of the respective electromotive furniture drive is connected to a fixed and/or a movable furniture component, so that during operation of the electric motor, the movable furniture components can be adjusted relative to one another. The furniture can be implemented as a slatted frame, worktable, bed, tabletop, treatment table, hospital or care bed, and also as a lifting device for persons, such as lifters or patient lifters.
It is routine to provide such electromotive furniture drives with a so-called network isolation switch, which more or less separates it from the electrical supply network when it is not in use. For operation of such a network isolation switch, a so-called auxiliary voltage source is necessary, which provides electrical energy for switching over or at least initiating switching over from a turned-off idle state into a turned-on operating state to trigger the switching signals.
Further consumers which are connectable to a control device of the electromotive furniture drive are, inter alia, massage drives, heaters, lights, etc. The handheld control can be implemented via a wired or wireless (radio/infrared) bidirectional transmission link. Bidirectional means that the handheld control not only can conduct control signals to the control device, but rather can also receive signals on the part of the control device, for example.
Handheld controls having a full graphic display screen (display apparatus) and having burned-in (hardware-technology) images are known. The full graphic display screen displays various images and functions to the consumer. Since not all functions can be imaged in the display screen for reasons of space, the images can be switched over. Thus, there is one image for an adjustment drive, another image for the massage drives, still another for the heater, etc. This switching over is also called turning pages and can be performed by pressing buttons, for example. The function of the respective consumer is controlled on the basis of the displayed image by means of other buttons.
Such electromotive furniture drives having handheld controls of the type described at the beginning have proven themselves very well in practice. However, the lack of flexibility and adaptation capability are to be considered disadvantageous, which relates to the image display and the symbol display of a display screen of the handheld control. In practice, numerous configurations of a furniture drive are used for small to moderate-sized production series of an item of furniture, wherein a different number of consumers, for example, a different number of adjustment drives and/or massage motors and/or heaters and/or lights, etc., can also be used in a small series of an item of furniture. Therefore, a corresponding adaptation of the handheld control or a corresponding configuration of the handheld control corresponding to the connected consumers must be performed for every series of an item of furniture, and also of the display capability thereof in the form of the images and symbols, which must be adapted by manual programming or hardware technology to the respective item of furniture having the respective electromotive furniture drive. This results in a high level of variant variety of the handheld control, which is very unfavorable logistically and with respect to the individual production and installation capability of each handheld control.